'Super-deep' diamonds from Earth's core found

[Eldorado]

"Diamonds form perfect capsules so they retain the exact chemistry and the isotope composition of material from the part of the Earth where they formed,” said the study co-author, Lynton Jaques, of the Australian National University.

"These diamonds in particular are some of our deepest direct samples of the Earth. They allow us to see some original material from the formation of the Earth, that doesn't seem to have changed much over the past four billion years."

Full report at Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/science/super-deep-diamonds-earths-core-discovered

And at the UK Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/ancient-diamonds-earths-core-time-capsules-billion-years-old-a9060921.html

Paper at Science mag: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6454/692

[Gwynbleidd]

Wow, I really enjoyed that   

4.5 Billion years old these diamonds are!  That's older than the Moon they said. 

Absolutely amazing - thanks @Eldorado    

[glorybebe]

So amazing to think that those diamonds started forming so long ago 

[freetoroam]

Quote

A volcanic eruption brought the rocks to the surface, 

https://www.foxnews.com/science/super-deep-diamonds-earths-core-discovered

I so hope this news will not lead to some money mad company wanting to start digging where they should not be.

[Doc Socks Junior]

255-410 miles down isn't anywhere near the core.

Wait, those numbers seem familiar.  Oh, yep.  Freedom units versus kilometers.  They're saying the diamonds are from the mantle transition zone.  Two notable seismic discontinuities at mineral phase transitions within the mantle.  Olivine to wadsleyite at 410 kilometers, and spinel to perovskite at 660 kilometers.  (There's also a 520 km discontinuity but...)

Funny how there is numerical coincidence of 410.  That's neat.

I'll have to read the whole thing back at the office.  Haven't set up my new laptop with the VPN yet.

I'm a little skeptical about their formation being literally as old as the Earth.  The formation of the moon smacked the crap out of the (very) early Earth.  I'll have to read the article.

 

[Doc Socks Junior]

18 hours ago, freetoroam said:

I so hope this news will not lead to some money mad company wanting to start digging where they should not be.

I'd like any money mad company to start trying to dig that deep.  They only have to almost 400 kilometers deeper than the current deepest borehole. They certainly wouldn't be able to, but it'd be cool to see what they could do!

 

[Doc Socks Junior]

They assumed these diamonds were 500 million years old.

The researchers are hypothesizing that they tap a primordial 'reservoir' of mantle material that is somewhat unaffected by rock production and recycling.  That would be what is 4500 million years old in this case.